Richard Whittall:

The Globalist's Top Ten Books in 2016: The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer

Middle East Eye: "

The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer is one of the weightiest, most revelatory, original and important books written about sport"

“The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer has helped me immensely with great information and perspective.”

Bob Bradley, former US and Egyptian national coach: "James Dorsey’s The Turbulent World of Middle Eastern Soccer (has) become a reference point for those seeking the latest information as well as looking at the broader picture."

Alon Raab in The International Journal of the History of Sport: “Dorsey’s blog is a goldmine of information.”

Play the Game: "Your expertise is clearly superior when it comes to Middle Eastern soccer."

Andrew Das, The New York Times soccer blog Goal: "No one is better at this kind of work than James Dorsey"

David Zirin, Sports Illustrated: "Essential Reading"

Change FIFA: "A fantastic new blog'

Richard Whitall of A More Splendid Life:

"James combines his intimate knowledge of the region with a great passion for soccer"

Christopher Ahl, Play the Game: "An excellent Middle East Football blog"

James Corbett, Inside World Football

Monday, October 1, 2012

Political tensions build in Egyptian soccer

Political differences between Egyptian soccer players and
fans are spilling on to the street of Cairo as Egypt seeks to fend off possible
suspension by world soccer body FIFA.

In an escalation of tension with fans, players in Egypt’s
premier and second league are gearing up for a demonstration in front of the
sports ministry to demand the resumption of professional soccer suspended since
a politically loaded brawl in February in which 74 supporters of crowned Cairo
club Al Ahly SC were killed.

The demonstration highlights tensions with fans that go
beyond vows by militant, highly-politicized, street battle-hardened Al Ahly
fans to prevent a resumption of soccer until justice has been served for the
death of their comrades in the Port Said brawl.

The brawl, which widely is believed to have been provoked by
security forces in a bid to punish the ultras for their key role in the ousting
of president Hosni Mubarak and violent opposition to the military that ruled
Egypt until the election in July of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in the
country’s first democratic poll, sparked the banning of soccer for most of this
year.

Frustrated with the slow moving legal proceedings against 74
people, including nine security officials, accused of responsibility for the
Port Said incident and the lack of reform of soccer, Al Ahly ultras last month
stormed the grounds where the club’s players were training as well as
television studios and the headquarters of the Egyptian Football Association
(EFA). They demanded a clean-up of Egyptian soccer and media, whom they accuse
of corruption and fanning the flames of confrontation, and reform of the
security forces.

The ultras further demanded that the interior ministry’s
police and security’s forces -- the country’s most despised institution widely
viewed as the brutal enforcers of repression under Mr. Mubarak – be deprived of
responsibility for security in the stadiums. They also called for the
resignation of the boards of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) and Al
Ahly as well as the withdrawal of the candidacy of Mubarak era officials, among
whom world soccer body FIFA executive committee member Hani Abou-Reida, as
candidates in upcoming EFA elections.

Ultras groups across Egypt constitute the country’s second
largest, most organized civic group after Mr. Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, the
country’s foremost political grouping.

"We will never let the football come back in Egypt
unless the field is clean from corruption," said a leader of
the Al Ahly Ultras.

The EFA has said that professional soccer would resume on
October 17.

In a statement on Facebook, a newly founded group of players,
The Voice of Sportsmen, said that it was “extremely important that football
competitions are resumed because this is our job and our sole source of income.
We created that page to send our message to authorities and make our voice
heard. We also want all Egyptian
sportsmen to join us… We would like to fully stress on our support for the
rights of retribution for the Port Said martyrs, we want swift justice through
the legal channels. But that has nothing to do with football resumption," the
statement said.

Many Egyptian second-division players, who are usually
poorly paid, have complained that they could ill-afford the consequences of the
protracted suspension. Their concern was echoed by players for premier league
clubs.

Relations between fans and players have much like Egyptian
politics been on a rollercoaster since the fall of Mr. Mubarak. Tensions in the
first post-Mubarak year made way for a period of reconciliation in the wake of the
Port Said brawl, the worst incident in Egyptian sport history, which prompted
three Al Ahly players who also formed part of Egypt’s national squad to retire.

Within days Al Ahly militants, responding to an outpour of
sympathy from across Egypt including militants of Zamalek, apologized on an
especially created Facebook page named “We are sorry Shika” to Zamalek winger
Mahmoud Abdel-Razek aka Shikabala, widely viewed as Egypt’s top player, for
routinely abusing him verbally during their clubs’ derbies. The abuse
frequently led to Shikabala and Al Ahly fans trading insults in heated
exchanges.

Breaking with the tradition of soccer players standing on
the side lines of popular revolts in the Middle East and North Africa, if not
supporting autocratic leaders, starred Al; Ahly striker Mohamed Abou-Treika last
month boycotted his club’s Super Cup match against ENPPI, Egypt’s first
domestic match since the match suspension, in solidarity with the ultras. His
decision symbolized the struggles in virtually every Egyptian institution
between post-Mubarak reformers and supporters of the Mubarak-era status quo
ante.

Fuelling the growing gap between fans and players is what
sociologist Ian Taylor described as resistance to and rejection of the upwardly
mobile move of players from their working class origins to a middle class with
a Peter Stuyvesant-like jet set lifestyle.
“The player has been incorporated into the bourgeois world, his
self-image and behaviour have become increasingly managerial or
entrepreneurial, and soccer has become for the player, a means to personal
(rather than sub-cultural) success,” Mr. Taylor wrote in an analysis of British
soccer violence that in the Middle East and North is reinforced by the
political and psychological divide rooted in the neo-patriarchal nature of Arab
autocracies.

The ultras booked a first victory in their latest campaign
with the EFA’s decision to disqualify Mr. Abou Reida’s candidacy in election
scheduled for this month for the soccer body’s presidency.

Egyptian media reports quoting EFA spokesman Azmi Megahed
said that FIFA had threatened to suspend the soccer body if it were proven that
Mr. Abou-reida was disqualified as a result of government interference. FIFA
has reportedly denied issuing such a threat.

Mr. Abou-Reida, a member of Mr. Mubarak’s disbanded National
Democratic Party, was suspended on the basis of a court ruling that he had
already served as an EFA official for two consecutive terms and could only run
again in four years’ time.

Mr. Abou-Reida is challenging the decision and has denied
allegations by the ultras that he played a role in a decision by the
Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration of Sport that overturned an EFA ban on his
hometown club, Al Masry SC, for two years because of the Port Said incident
which occurred during a match against Al Ahly in its stadium.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in
Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Sporticos

Ads

Soccer Results

The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer does not promote, link to or provide videos from any online sources who distribute illegal streaming content over the Internet with domains registered in the United States of America

Top 100 Soccer Sites

Subscribe To

Subscribe by Email

About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile